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Aviation History
1932
1932 - 1257.PDF
FLIGHT, DECEMBER 8, 1932 FIRST PRACTICAL APPLICATION : Forward portion of a fuselage built in Accles 8C Pollock stainless steel tubing. (FLIGHT Photo.) the weld-decay proof type of austenitic stainless steel was introduced. This steel in tube form is covered by speci fication D.T.D. 207. In the hard drawn condition i.e., with a tensile strength of 50 tons per square inch) the tube specification is D.T.D. 211, while a third specifica tion, in which it is work-hardened to only about 30 tons per square inch, will probably be required for certain parts, such as tubular rivets. Dealing with the martensitic stainless steel, there are three specifications; D.T.D. 97, D.T.D. 102, and D.T.D. 105, which cover tubes made from stainless steel, with no nickel content at all, the three specifications defined the fully softened," the " as-drawn and blued," and the still harder "fully heat-treated" conditions. This steel does not approach the austenitic stainless steel for resisting corrosion, and unless it is highly polished the surface is apt to rust, though subsequent action is generally quite slow. It can be oxy-acetylene welded, but not so readily as the austenitic type, and because of air-hardening in the region of the weld it is essential to heat-treat after welding. Quite recently a new specification—D.T.D. 199—has been issued for a martensitic stainless steel containing a little nickel i.e., about 2 per cent.). This steel has a 0.2 per cent, proof stress of not less than 45 tons per square inch and an ultimate strength of not less than 50 tons per square inch. There are no specifications for tubes of this material in the " softened " and " as-drawn " conditions corresponding to specifications D.T.D. 97 and D.T.D. 102 respectively, because this material is inherently stiffer than, and cannot be softened to the same extent as, the straight chromium steels. It is considerably more resis tant to corrosion than the martensitic steel without any nickel, and with an approximately equal tensile strength it is therefore probable that D.T.D. 199 will replace D.T.D. 105 in some instances. As regards manipulation, D.T.D. 199 tubes fully softened will not approach D.T.D. 97 tubes in respect of the amount of work that can be done with a single annealing. SEE R. D. BLUMENFELD AT THE ROYAL AERO CLUB >f|rT a House Dinner on Wednesday, November 30, CXl with Lord Gorell in the chair, Mr. R. D. <Zs JlL Blumenfeld spoke to the members on the sub ject of " The Press and Aviation." Mr. Blumenfeld has become, as General Seely so aptly put it, " the Doyen of Fleet Street," and is therefore a very suitable person to speak on this subject. As is so usual with these dinners, the speeches were not so much speeches as intimate talks ; it must suffice, therefore, if we give the gist of each speaker's remarks. R. D. B., as he is affectionately called, thought that aviation really got all that it deserved as news from the Press, and assured the members that if they did not see more of their activities reported in the papers it was entirely their own fault for not helping the newspaper men to greater extent, to get the information they re quired. He referred to the beginnings of aviation, when, for example, Moore-Brabazon had gone to France in order to avoid having things about him put in the papers, and how even in the early days in America and at Hendon it had been necessary for reporters to hide themselves. Mr. Blumenfeld's remarks were throughout interspersed with those humorous touches for which he is so well known, but which unfortunately lose their humour when committed to paper. He excused the prominence given to aircraft crashes by saying that they were still news, and that when crashes were a common occurrence they would no longer be worth space. He recalled the time when a burst tyre on a motor-car got half a column, and the motor-car manufacturers used to say exactly the same as the aircraft manufacturers are now saying. Speaking about the de velopments of aircraft in the future, Mr. Blumenfeld en visaged the time when every man would have his own machine, and when even the Government might subsidise the purchase of those machines ; but if we judge by the effectiveness of the prophesies made in Mr. Blumenfeld's books, there would seem little chance of this. The use of horrible words like ' airplane " in daily papers was excused on the plea that it was more English than " aeroplane," but the vociferous noises which arose at once, point to this being a very unpopular assumption. Mr. Blumenfeld disclosed the fact that he had been chosen by Lady Houston to hold the purse strings of the fund she had so generously started for financing the flight over Mount Everest. Among those who joined the discussion which followed Mr. Blumenfeld's remarks was Gen. Seely, who is evidently taking his connection with the League of Nations very seriously, and who at once left the question of the Press in favour of a dissertation on the League. Col. Mervyn O'Gorman backed him up and emphasised the importance to England of aviation development. Mr. Handley Page was practically unreportable ; he waxed lyrical over the " sweet cadence " of the word aeroplane, and then wrung our hearts with the picture he painted of the connection between bombs, aviation and women and children. Mr. Dismore asked for equality between the newspaper insurance for motor and aircraft travellers. Sir John Siddeley, in his delightful manner, suggested that we had a lot to thank the Press for, and thought that manufacturers of aircraft were prevented by the Air Ministry from giving much of the news they would like published. Mr. Lindsay Everard thought that the Club and Aero nautical Societies might help themselves more than they did by giving the newspapers news about their doings, so that the public would know more of the steady work which was being put in for the development of aviation. Gen. Seely, in concluding the discussion, suggested that someone ought to be induced to put up a large money prize for the pilot who flew most slowly. Mr. Blumenfeld replied briefly to the various points raised, and thus ended one of the most instructive yet at the same time most amusing House. Dinners the Royal Aero Club has had for a very long time. 1171
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